The Horror of Everyday Parlance

Are you specifically talking novels or just the whole horror genre, in general?

"It's ALIVE!"

'May the Force be with you.'

I suppose half of the tag-line for Jaws...

"Just when you thought it was safe..."

then add whatever.

A sequel that shall not be named also gave us the oft-used "This time, it's personal."

Alot of comedy catch-phrases have entered (and exited) everyday parlance:

'Allllllllllllllllrighty then.'
'Iz niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.'
'So I've got THAT going for me...which is nice.'

Most of these seem to fade after a few years.

Not from a horror movie!

"We're gonna need a bigger boat", "They're Heeere!", and "Heeeere's Johnny" come to mind.

Also, the whole neighborhood/house built on top of an Indian burial ground Poltergeist reveal is probably, at this point, almost a cultural lexicon in-joke. As is pea soup.

What you're going for?

"Be afraid. Be very afraid." from the Fly trailer seems to have entered the lexicon, although I may just hang around too many geeks.

"I heard you were dead..."
everyone BUT Snake Plisskin (Escape From NY/LA)

That was only NY. For LA, the line was something like 'I thought you were taller'.

My dad's favorite phrase used to be "Come out come out where ever you arrrrre..." in a kinda slow Cape Fear drawl.

I know far too many people that throw "Game Over, Man!" into everyday conversation.

I stand corrected.

I use 'Join Us...' from 'Evil Dead' quite a lot.

It's an easy error to make. We'll all watch EFNY at the drop of a hat while actively avoiding EFLA.

True... but "Bangkok Rules" is a quote I've used once or twice.

"One of us! One of us!" from 'Freaks' is another.

My family and I have quoted Pennywise the clown from time to time throughout the years, but I suspect it's just us.

"They ALL float down here..."

I imagine's King's SHINING has infiltrated the pop culture landscape much more. "REDRUUUUM!" and "HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!" and "No TV and no beer make Homer... something... something..."

Point the First: many of these posts concern something other than horror.
Point the Second: many of these posts concern quotes, etc. that are "everyday parlance" for nobody except genre nerds.

Pointe The Thirde:

pointe taken...

Most of the submissions so far seem like horror quote soup rather than Everyday Parlance. I could submit "Say AAH, Motherfucker!" because I happen to use that phrase, but it sure isn't everyday parlance for most people.

Here's one: "Stepford wife."

The JAWS "dun dun" (minor second) theme for sure. I can't go into the ocean without hearing that in my head eventually. John Williams, you bastard! It's simple, memorable, iconic, and scary.

Big or scary looking dog=Cujo

Gotta think the name "Damien" is forever tainted.

Keep telling yourself its only a movie. The tag line from Last house on the left.

Another example: Twilight Zone

The terms "bloodsucker", "zombie", "witch" are all commonly used derogatory labels. "Devil" or "Freak" can be positive or negative (or a playful mixture), depending on how it's used ("Super Freak!" "You Sly Devil!"). "Skeleton" or "scarecrow" are terms often used to describe a particular person's frame.

"Death warmed over"
"You look like somebody just stepped over your grave."
"As the crow flies" (a stretch)
"Trick or treat?"

Ooh, I just thought of an obvious one: referring to one who mindlessly follows the herd as a "pod person".

"The Devil made me do it."
"The Devil, you say!"
"I'd sell my soul to..."

"Bride of Frankenstien"-tall ugly girl (older saying)

edit: Godzilla Vs Tokyo-any kinda breaking of stuff by one person

AKA "Sasquatch"

My name's "Francis", but everyone calls me "Psycho".

Bats in the belfry

Waiting in the wings sometimes gets substituted with lurking in the shadows.

'Dracula' or 'vampire' are expressions used in Greece to sometimes describe people with extremely dour and/or morbid personalities.

Was this actually a phrase popularized by horror fiction, though, or is it an ancient belief and modern pseudoscientific theory that actually inspired certain tropes within horror fiction?

I was just about to post the same thing. Damn your nimble fingers.

Same goes for Axe Murderer and Psycho, although I'm sure the movie helped popularize the latter. Lizzie Borden predates Jason.

I think it's the latter in that case.

I'll add "Faustian bargain" to the list.

Yeah, but I'd categorize myth, superstition, and folklore into "horror fiction". Stretching, but it's just a similar media. Some of these sayings are a result of made up BS, just in a different context.

EDIT: But I'll leave that up to Iggy the lawyer's ruling.

In this particular case I feel like it's the myths, superstitions and folklore concerning lycanthropes that would fall into the realms of "horror fiction" and were directly inspired by the lunar effect theory which I would categorize more as a legitimate attempt by the people of that era to explain mental illness. Granted, the attempts to understand unexplained phenomenon is the origin of pretty much all myth and superstition. I mean, sure, there's no real evidence to back it up, and it's complete pseudoscience, but it was still a theory that persisted well into the modern age and was subjected to many studies. Can't say the same for Lycanthropy. So it's the Lunar Effect theory, itself, not the stories of people turning into actual beasts in the light of the full moon, that is responsible for the popularity of the saying. Although I'll add that doesn't mean there are those who aren't familiar with the phrase only because of its horror connotations. Not meaning Iggy.

ETA: With a little further thought, I need to correct a few things. Lunar effect theory being the direct origin of werewolf myths and such being the most important. Not the case, obviously, but the whole transforming by the light of a full moon characteristic of the creatures being woven into their mythology would come from the idea that the lunar cycle causes deranged behavior. And I also didn't mean to connect the phrase "must be a full moon out" solely with werewolves as it is more intertwined with the word lunatic, which was how Iggy originally presented it. Werewolves were just one of the more recognizable uses of that "theory" in horror fiction that I could think of.

Re: "The full moon brings out the crazies"

There are a lot things like that where horror didn't actually create the myth/legends/superstitions/whatever, but definitely helped popularize and perpetuate them in a big way by modifying or riffing on them e.g. 666 the Number of the Beast (Revelation 13.18), Black Cats, Samhain, 13 as unlucky number, saying the name multiple times (Candyman, originally Bloody Mary). Inevitably, bastardization occurs, but it's cool to have all that shit in horror, so it's forgivable.

it's pushing "horror" but calling any particularly big and/or monstrous version of something "_____zilla" is the first thing I thought of.